Chewing Qat (aka “Getting High”) In Yemen

If there’s one word that I heard more than any other during my stay in Yemen, it is the word ‘qat’. And the reason that word is so important is because, at approximately 2pm every single day, the entire nation stops everything they are doing and focuses on qat and on qat only.

Qat is a plant that is grown all over Yemen, on what seems to be every square inch of land, whether in the valleys or on the mountainsides, that could be used to grow a plant. When the leaves of the plant are fresh, they are chewed, an activity that leads to a state of increased excitement with the possibility of mild euphoria as a bonus. This state is the result of a stimulant similar to amphetamine that is found in the plant and which, using the best description I’ve heard, acts as if you’re drinking endless cups of very strong coffee. Qat, and the substance it contains, is actually illegal in many countries and its use is mostly limited to Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti and a handful of other countries in the same geographical area.

In Yemen, people chew qat while walking, sitting, talking, driving, working and just about anything else they might be doing. And when I say ‘people’, I am referring to what appears to be the entire over-18 male population of the country as well as many women, who also chew the leaves according to their husbands at least.

It’s quite traditional for Yemeni males to wear a jambiya every day, a curved ceremonial blade that is displayed in the front by wedging it into a thick belt. And when qat time comes around, most males suddenly have a huge bag of leaves hanging from the handle of their knife so that they have easy access to their qat.

This is not just some hobby. Every male I met admitted that they were addicted to qat and that the only way they could stop chewing it was if they had no money at all and couldn’t afford even the cheapest variety, which runs about 500 rials ($2 USD) for a huge bag.

Did I try it out? Of course I did. Not a day went by when a local person didn’t give me a gift of qat to chew and you know how it goes…when you receive a gift of qat, it’s certainly rude to refuse.

HOW DOES CHEWING QAT WORK?

Morning – Go to the Qat Market to buy your daily supply, choosing the best quality that you can afford. Qat typically stays fresh for one day so most people buy a new batch every day.

1:30pm – Eat a massive lunch.

2:00pm – Pull out your bag of qat, find a comfortable mufrage (sitting room designed specifically for chewing qat that can be found in every home, restaurant and hotel and may sometimes be located outside) and get into the proper qat chewing position. See below photos for an example…

2:01pm – Start chewing qat by first pulling the leaves out of the plastic bag. Then, place a few leaves and stems into your mouth and chew on them for a minute before stuffing those leaves and stems, using your tongue, into the inner cheek on one side of your mouth. Continue chewing the leaves slowly, squeezing out the juice, while stuffing more and more leaves into your mouth the entire time until you have a bulge in your cheek the size of ?????. And then you repeat the process, over and over and over and over and over again, never spitting the growing mass of leaves out of your mouth.

3:00pm – Keep on chewing qat, crunching up those leaves and growing that bulge.

4:00pm – Don’t stop now! Keep chewing.

5:00pm – You guessed it…chew away my friends!

6:00pm – The weakest qat chewers will now spit their mushy ball of chewed up leaves out of their mouth while the stronger ones will continue going for many hours more.

Some time in the night – The qat session finally comes to an end and you spit out the remaining qat from your mouth. You drink a cup of black tea and then you sit there on the cushioned floor of the mufrage, trying to engage in some conversation with the others around you until dinner is served or it’s time for sleep.

WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF QAT?

As mentioned above, qat users get a bit excited and as a result, they will often become extremely talkative and hyper, spitting out words in such a rapid and animated fashion to anyone who will listen. However, it also seemed to me that just as many users I met were perfectly content to sit in silence, staring at the wall and minding their own business.

Behind the scenes, your blood pressure and heart rate increase, you lose your appetite and to top it off, you become constipated. Long term effects may include cancer of the mouth, depression and psychosis, all fun stuff.

MY EXPERIENCE CHEWING QAT

It was okay. Seemed like quite an effort for such a little buzz. The qat made me a bit spacey and somewhat hyper, and I had a good time as a result, but it took four hours of chewing leaves to get there. However, with a 65% unemployment rate in Yemen, I can understand the appeal. A quick high would leave most people with very little to do all afternoon and evening. Qat fills in the day.

But for me, all that chewing was a painstaking process as the inside of my mouth became sore and raw, the stuff kept me awake at night and I’m quite sure that it messed with my digestive system. And that’s after only chewing qat for one week.

Would I do it again? Sure, simply because that’s the thing to do in Yemen and in the end, it is a social activity. Had I not chewed qat I probably would not have had the same interactions and conversations with locals that I ended up having. Qat honestly helped bridge the tourist gap, allowing me to take a few more steps closer to the culture I wanted to learn about.

Are you ready to earn money and travel?

Comments 100

I have yemen freinds. I just tried kat for the First time. It was alright concentration was increased and gave me enough energy to move a house after working 11 hours. I recomend if u need a boost. It did not cause me to get paranoid like other stimulants.

I am from Somalia, I think everyone reading these comments know about Somalia and its satiation. One of the most important thing behind this satiation in Somalia is Qat,Kat,Gat. Almost all militias weather its is government military or Al-Shabab militias use Qat. I am a health worker, although there is no research done in terms of the health related problems of Qat, but in my experience I have seen a lot of people most of them men aged above 25yrs old had at least 5 yrs of chewing Qat history, complaining about severe headache and lack of sleep(insomnia), and constipation, and hallucinations most of them after investigation seen that their Blood Pressure(BP) was high, some of them they had surgery to relive intestinal obstruction due to Qat accumulation in their intestine, some of them die before they come to hospital because of stroke while they where chewing Qat. Now I am in China doing my masters here, my teacher ask me to write research article about Qat. Any help will be appreciated I mean researches done about Qat. U can send your info on my e-mail: hilalnor@hotmail.com. Thank you.

I am Ethiopian. I have chewed khat for about 20 years now. I started it when I was in high school. I used it for studying before every exam I had until my time in college. It worked for me and I was one of the highest scorers both in high school and college. I was one of the distinction students in college. I used khat to digest a mountain of information within no time. What surprises me is that I am not addicted to it anymore. Currently, I work as a training coordinator for my organization and I chew khat whenever I encounter workload. This might be in two weeks time, a month time or so. When I have social gatherings with my friends we chew khat to get the best out of the time. I you do it correctly, i mean manage your consumption of khat, it is the best leaf both to perform and chill out. Consuming Coke or chocolate on a daily basis is more dangerous to health than consuming khat on a daily basis.

I bet you had a wonderful stay in Yemen.
I have a little correction to the post … The product shown on the picture of the pickup truck is not Qat. it looks like qat, but it is green beans that Yemeni people often consume as a raw veg.
Thank You for sharing your experience in my country,Yemen.

I lived in yemen my entire life and i am a yemenie
Notes you should know
not everyone chews Gat ( Yes its Gat G not Q … Q sounds weird)

There are JUST A FEW SO VERY FEW intelligent people like me who thinks Gat is a disgusting vile thing that i never once in my life put in my mouth and never will.
it is a tool used for ignorant retards to make their pathetic life easier.
They all claim ” we can stop if we want to ” But they avoid the fact that its highly addictive and they actually cannot quit it no matter what.

It causes ALL kinds of diseases you’d be surprised by the numbers, which is why they keep watching it so much before they chew it, and even still it would cause cancer.

And All of them ALL are Muslims and they believe that anything addictive or bad for you is against Islam and yet they Gobble it like tic-tac … pathetic ignorant little fools… this … this is why i dont have friends because they rather waste their lives chewing this instead of doing something fun and creative

intelligent ?! your own ppl looks stupid that’s your point ! right ? , !
I AM Yemeni ! , and i think not all ppl chewing Qat ! , but there are many many creative ppl in Yemen , it’s not about chewing qaat or not , it’s about what you did in this life to make a deference in others lives ! , we live in a small world bro , what have you did mr. intelligent ?! ,

think about it

and wandering earl that was a first class experience xD , HOPE TO SEE YA AGAIN .

My friend told about me about qat, so I asked him can he get me some,… so now I’m sitting here chewing qat with bubblegum for nearly 2 hours and reading your article :)I think I will not last until i get the buzz..